Professor Yvonne Galligan:

The core of this question rests on the fact that up to this point in time social media providers have not been considered publishers in the same way as the traditional media are publishers. There is a process and well-worked routine for the traditional media to address false information, namely, by taking it down, making retracting statements and taking all other necessary measures to amend the record and in some way redress the harm done to the individual, group or whatever else. Social media providers need to be considered in that context. In that frame, they must be considered responsible for publishing online this misinformation or whatever it may be and should be held accountable, in a similar fashion as the traditional media are held accountable, for those statements and for taking action if those statements can be shown to be misinformation. That is my response on that. It is interesting that the anonymity behind these platforms is also an issue. That feeds into part of the misinformation.